When it comes to the typical hero’s journey, the tale will typically start with a man who hears the call of fate (or their leader) telling them that they are the chosen one and must defeat a great evil that threatens to destroy everything. And while that story is always a classic to come back to, it’s nice when that tale is tweaked a bit to add something fresh to the mix. In Get in the Car, Loser, a rag tag team of lesbians must deal with harassment while on a road trip to face off against a force that wishes to wipe their very identities from existence. Is this a road trip worth going on? Let’s dive in and find out.
Get in the Car, Loser kicks off with our main character, Sam, waiting outside for her friend to pick her up. However, a guy comes up to her and begins to harass her for her choice of wardrobe. Just as things are getting heated, Sam’s friend, Grace, and her partner, Valentin, come to the rescue. The three of them are going on a road trip. But not just any road trip. It turns out that Grace has stolen an ancient artifact that is the key to sealing the evil monster known as the Machine Devil. The Machine Devil was once sealed away, however, the seal has weakened over the thousand years that it has been trapped. Grace decides to take fate into her own hands and drags her friend and partner to reseal the Machine Devil before it can break out and destroy everything they love.
Grace convinces her girlfriend and best friend to go on a road trip to seal the Machine Devil.
The story tackles the hardships and challenges that LGBTQ+ people face in their day to day life, from general harassment to self-loathing episodes. Many individuals feel emboldened to spread their beliefs of “purity” and “removing degenerates” to those who are just trying to live their lives. For those outside of the LGBTQ+ community, a lot of the issues highlighted in the game can seem exaggerated or incorrect. But for those who have friends and family, or if they identify as such, the vitriol displayed is just a hint of what can be experienced. It feels nice to have your hardships recognized and to see characters who look/act similar to you who fight against discrimination and homophobia/transphobia.
While you’re driving, the characters in the car will talk to each other along the way. As this is how most of the story unfolds, you’ll get a closer glimpse at the relationships of all the characters, their hopes, fears, and flirting antics with each other. The player doesn’t have control of the characters or the topics of conversations, with the characters talking while you’re driving.
As you’re driving, the characters will have conversations to pass the time.
Get in the Car, Loser is an active time battle RPG, akin to games like Final Fantasy. All skills have their own cooldown timers and once the timer is up, you can perform that attack again. Each character has up to three different attacks that you can cycle through, alongside a fourth special attack reserved for Grace. Outside of battle, you have control of the car and can choose what lane to drive in to go into battle or stop at a landmark to heal, get gas, buy trinkets, and pick up some quests.
Taking inspiration from games like Final Fantasy, the combat for Get in the Car, Loser is active time based. This means that all skills are on a cooldown timer and once that timer is up, you can use that skill. The skills that you can use are based on the equipment you equip to your character and from there, the types of skills that they can use. Some characters, like Sam and Valentin, are support/tank based and are the only ones that can use healing and status affecting moves. Others, such as Grace and Angela, are attack based units. Each skill has its own cooldown timer and the more heavy hitting the skill, the longer the timer.
Once the stagger meter reaches a specific percentage, the enemy is staggered.
Each skill is on a separate page and you can flip through the pages to use skills as they pop up from their cooldown timer. Once you navigate to the next page though, you aren’t able to go back until you cycle back through. After the third page of skills, Grace has the chance to use her ultimate skill, the Sword of Fate. This skill increases the stagger meter by a drastic amount. Once an enemy is staggered, they will take increased damage based on the percentage displayed in their meter. Stagger will only last for a few seconds before the meter is reset to 0%.
Battles are active time, where you use a skill as the timer has run out.
When it comes to difficulty, most of the difficulty will come from facing enemies that are stronger than you. Most regular enemies won’t give you a problem unless they are a special quest enemy. In those cases, they may have a skill that triggers a time in battle that you’ll have to deal with (such as increased damage, sturdy defense, etc.). As for bosses, most of the bosses can be dealt with like regular enemies. There are a couple where you’ll have to pay attention to their attack patterns so that you’re not suddenly wiped out. There is some strategy to keep in mind when it comes to juggling support and attack skills, but otherwise, the game is easy to get into the swing of.
When you’re not in combat, you’ll be controlling the car as you make your way toward the seal where the Machine Devil rests. While driving, there are three lanes that you can choose from to drive in. At certain points, there will be specific enemies for you to battle. Each lane will tell you the distance to the next battle or landmark. If there is a battle up ahead, you will see the level of the enemy and how much money you can earn from the battle if you win. If it’s a landmark, you’ll just see what type of landmark (either a shrine or gas station).
You can control which lane the car drives in, to target enemies or landmarks.
At gas stations, you’ll be able to fill up your car, buy trinkets, and get a stamp in your stamp book if you’re in a new region. There are also shrines at most gas stations, where you can heal and save (although you can also save wherever you are from the main menu). There is a side quest center where you can pick up and drop off side quests.
You will have to maintain the amount of gas that you have in your tank. Outside of one time a few hours into the game (in which a new feature is introduced), there will be gas stations spaced out far enough from each other that you won’t have to worry about running out of gas. But if you do happen to avoid enough gas stations and run out of gas, there is an app that you eventually download that can fill your gas tank remotely. The price difference isn’t big between the app and filling up at a gas station, so it isn’t too big of a penalty for running out of gas.
Equipment is a major part of the game, as it controls both the skills that you can use in battle as well as your level when facing against enemies. Each equipment piece has certain attacks associated with it, and those attacks will reflect onto the character depending on their class. You have a support, a tank, and two DPS units that you can make use of. So playing around with skill layouts is the best way to figure out the best skill layout for battle. If you don’t equip any items to your characters, they won’t have any attacks to use in battle.
At gas stations, you can buy trinket packets that will hold a variety of equipment and support items.
The only way to get new equipment pieces is to buy trinket packs from gas stations. Each pack has a specific item level that it will give you, with one item having a plus sign next to it. The plus sign acts as the equivalent of the next level. So if you open up a pack of level III trinkets, you’ll get one piece of equipment that is level III+, which will count as a level IV piece. You can level up any equipment piece that doesn’t have a plus sign using any pieces that you aren’t using. Leveling up with give the item a plus sign. You’ll want to keep up with leveling up your gear and buying new trinkets at gas stations, as this is the only way to unlock new trinkets (and enemies will level up the further into the road trip that you go).
Get in the Car, Loser is a pixel art game with a bright color palette that offsets the occasional dark themes of the game. The art is very good, elevated by the designs of the characters and monsters alike. While the game is based on the real world, there are quirky monster designs to take in. While there aren’t a lot of monsters in the game, with each new demon that appears, they start to look stranger and stranger. The environments aren’t too much to write home about, although it is reminiscent of going on a road trip, where most of your surroundings aren’t much to comment on as well.
Grace can make use of the Sword of Fate in combat to increase the stagger meter.
There’s not much voice acting in Get in the Car, Loser, outside of the new area introductions that take the form of a radio host introducing the start of a new hour. And given that most of the game takes place on the road, it’s a fitting transition as you progress through the game.
After battle, you’ll see polaroid-like images of the crew on their road trip.
The OST for Get in the Car, Loser is a gem. A lot of the music is mellow in nature, filled to the brim with synth and guitar. Instrumentally, it’s the type of music you’d envision if you were having your own road trip. The main battle theme in particular is very catchy, being the only song with lyrics in the game. Although for better (and perhaps for worse at times), it’s the only song that does play during battles. You’ll find yourself singing along, even if you’re not intentionally doing so.
Get in the Car, Loser is an absolute treat to dive into. While the subject matter of the game can be tough to take on at times, the heart and perseverance of the characters make it a road trip worth taking. The combat is solid on its own, and while there are a couple of spikes in difficulty, the game never offers too much of a challenge to turn someone off from playing. Adding in the smooth OST, the game is an overall joy to play through.
Get in the Car, Loser gets an 8/10.
